Art, culture, food and more in Italy in general and Bologna in particular

The Gondolas of Venice

On a hot summer day, what better way to cool off than to revisit some old photos of the Venice gondolas one bright winter morning.

Well, I can think of plenty of more effective ways of cooling off, but they don’t make for interesting blog posts about Italy.

So yes, it’s been pretty warm recently, and despite my Florida heritage, this flamingo does not like the heat. The animals and I are slowly melting. Even my cats who love the heat are looking a bit more limp and lethargic. We do have a portable air conditioner, which helps a little, but on days like today when it’s 35C/95F, there’s only so much it can do.

Since this blog is about Italy, not just Bologna, and because I haven’t been out much to explore due to the heat and work, I thought I’d go through some of my old photos taken during my one day-trip to Venice one January many years ago. We happened to be there on an actual holiday, so we lucked out even more with the smaller crowds. On the downside, being a holiday, the restaurant we wanted to go to wasn’t open. Still, Venice in the off season is absolutely worth a visit and it’s a relatively short train ride from Bologna.

I joke that it’s nearly impossible to take bad photos in Venice and going through my many many photos taken that day, I’m really surprised by how many turned out well, even with my old point-and-shoot film camera I was using. I must have gone through quite a few rolls of film, though! But how can you not with such beautiful scenery everywhere you look.

The architecture of Venice was a huge draw for me, but I also found myself photographing the boats moored up or floating by. And of course I couldn’t resist taking photos of the famous gondolas of Venice! We didn’t ride one — it seemed extra touristy and probably pretty cold that close to the water in early January — but I loved getting some of the photos that day. There’s one with a rainbow reflection off the water that is one of my favorites.

So here are a handful of gondola photos from my visit to Venice. Have you been? Did you take a gondola ride? Is it hell on earth during the summer season with all of the tourists?